Hey everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of this story! Before we start however, there's the reviews to deal with!
1TGN: Tails is done being the victim in someone else's plan. But reuniting with Cosmo was certainly good for him, and getting to see the other members of the Resistance was nice too!
Perturbo: The Tailsmo is very cute, and there will definitely be some big developments coming up so stay tuned!
That's everyone so let's get started!
Mechanized Production
Reparations
Tails and Cosmo didn't have to wait long before Whisper came to retrieve them, letting both of them know she was ready. The duo returned inside the Resistance base and entered the infirmary, where Whisper had prepared everything needed to work on Tails' augments. Cream and Cheese were also waiting for them there.
"You're alive! When Cosmo said that Robotnik had captured you we were all worried that…"
"Well I'm okay, so you don't have to worry about that."
"That's good," Cream continued. "But I'm going to give that arm of yours a look after this is done."
Tails sheepishly smiled, with getting to talk to everyone again, he'd kinda forgotten about his arm, it didn't hurt anywhere near as bad as it had before, maybe he was just getting used to it. Either way, getting it looked at would be nice.
Whisper gestured for the fox to lay down on the table and the lights on Cream's augments just above her eye started to glow, Cheese made his way over toward the fox.
"So Tails…" The rabbit began, "I'm sure you remember but, we're going to have to drain the plasma from your augments again… I just don't want it to be like last time…"
"I'll be okay…" The fox responded, "I'm ready for it this time."
The rabbit nodded and Cheese began to siphon the energy from the fox's augments. Immediately, the doubting voice of his subconscious started to seep back into his thoughts.
"You know that Robotnik is just going to find you again…"
"Shut up…"
"And what are you going to do when they realize this time that Cosmo is a threat? Last time you fought them was a fluke and you still lost! You don't stand a chance…"
"Shut up, I'm tired of listening to you! I'm tired of saying that I mean nothing! I'm done with it all! Now leave me alone!"
The fox's subconscious didn't reply.
"Well, that's everything." Cream said as the energy finished draining from his augments.
"That was fast."
"Well, there wasn't a whole lot left anyways."
"I did fly here so…"
"That would explain it, but with that done Whisper can start looking around for the tracker. I'll leave you two alone for a bit."
The rabbit left the room, taking Cosmo and Cheese with her so that Whisper could focus completely on her work.
The wolf started to disassemble the fox's mechanical augments, removing his mechanical tails so that she could access the thrusters on his back. The cyan glowing eye of her half-mechanical face scanned over each component as she worked in silence, searching for anything that looked slightly suspicious.
Deep down, however, Whisper still felt terrible. The guilt from the night when Tails had confronted her and Amy still hung at the front of her mind.
"Tails…" She began, the guilt in her voice still readily apparent even through the heavy mechanical tones that tainted her voice. "I just want to say… I'm sorry… I should have said something… I shouldn't have just stayed quiet that night…"
The fox listened to what she had to say, but it was a while before he spoke.
"That doesn't mean it didn't hurt…" He responded, the memory of the night he'd overheard Amy and the wolf's conversation about him returning to his mind. More specifically, the word they'd used to describe him pressed firmly on his thoughts.
"Liability."
"I know it hurt to hear what I said, and I'm not trying to say it didn't… But I am sorry… I was just worried about you putting yourself in danger… I just didn't want to lose someone I'd started to think of as a friend…"
The wolf continued to work as a silence once again fell over the two of them. Tails had a moment to himself to think about what Whisper had said.
"Is this just a big misunderstanding?" He asked himself. "Is that what it's been this whole time?"
"I don't expect you to forgive me, but you deserve to know…"
The wolf continued her work, finally locating something strange in the fox's augments, which she quickly loosened and removed.
"There's the tracker." Whisper commented. "Do you want it for anything?"
The fox shook his head, he didn't have any interest in keeping it around for any longer than he needed to.
"Well, we're just going to destroy it then. Don't think we've got much use for it either…" She continued, disconnecting the power supply for it before setting the tracker on a nearby table. "Now to reattach your tails…"
"Wait," Tails said, sitting himself up and having to adjust his balance due to not having his augments attached. "Whisper… I can tell you feel really bad about what happened, and I think it's my fault you feel that way… So I'm sorry too…"
"You don't need to apologize…"
"Yes I do, I've just been thinking about what happened ever since I got here… I think this is just a big misunderstanding…"
"So… Are we still friends?"
"If you'd like to be."
Whisper smiled, something Tails hadn't really seen her do before. "I'd like that."
"Well, I guess that makes us friends."
"Thank you Tails… But I've got to reattach these." She responded, nodding toward the two mechanical tails. "So if you could lay back down for me."
The fox did as instructed and Whisper quickly rebuilt his augments and reattached the two mechanical appendages.
"You can stand up now. Might want to make sure those are on tight." The wolf said as she finished and started putting her tools away.
Tails got to his feet, flexing his mechanical augments behind him to check their weight and balance. "Feels good to me, thanks Whisper."
The wolf nodded and Tails left the infirmary, he quickly ran into both Cosmo and Cream who were waiting outside.
"Did she find it?" Cosmo asked.
"Yeah, the tracker is gone."
"That's good," Cream added, grabbing some bandages she'd snagged on her way out of the infirmary. "But let me get a look at that arm of yours."
Tails let the rabbit investigate the injured section of his arm as he continued. "And Cosmo… I think I'm going to stay here with the Resistance."
"What changed your mind?" She asked.
"Well, me and Whisper got to talk for a bit, and we figured out this is just a big misunderstanding. We're friends again. Plus, everyone else I really know is here… I really don't know what I'd do without everyone. I just don't know how Amy is going to feel about this…"
"I'm sure she'll understand." The elemental continued, "I think just tell her how you feel about it."
"I'm still a little angry, that's the thing…"
"Maybe you could talk to her last?" Cream added, trying to help the situation as she started to work with the bandages.
"Could be a good idea, I just don't want to make things worse than they already are."
"How much worse could they get?" Cosmo asked.
"You've got a point there," Tails responded, sighing afterward. "Well, I guess I'll try, what do I have to lose?"
"Worst case," Cosmo continued, grabbing the fox by the hand. "We could just go somewhere on our own."
Tails blushed heavily at Cosmo's comment and the fact she was holding his hand. Before he could say anything however, Cream jumped back into the conversation.
"So you two do love each other!" She added, finishing the bandage and making Cosmo very happy she couldn't blush as Tails turned a bright shade of pink, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Okay, I'll go talk to everyone." The fox said, "We'll see how this goes."
He tried to push the embarrassment from his head and set off to locate the other Resistance members.
"You've got it bad for her Tails…" He thought to himself. "Okay, focus. Focus!"
It didn't take long for him to locate someone else to talk to.
"Hey, you're back!" Tangle exclaimed, "Good to see you're alive! So, are you planning on sticking around again or what?"
"I think so, if Amy's alright with that."
"Oh, I'm sure she'll be fine with it!" The lemur continued, her large mechanical tail wrapping around the fox and pulling him over. "Besides, it'll be good to have you around again!"
"It's good to be back. Doesn't seem like very much changed while I was gone."
"Eh, not much changes around here in general."
"You could say that again." A third voice added to the conversation. The two mobians turned to look over at Bunnie, who had heard the two of them having their reunion.
"H-Hey Bunnie…" Tails said, a bit of nervousness in his tone.
"Tangle, do you mind giving us a second?" The mechanical rabbit asked.
"Sure!" The lemur responded, releasing the fox from her tail. "Figured you two would like to chat anyways."
The lemur left, leaving the other two mobians to themselves.
"So you're back." Bunnie began. "You had me worried sick."
"Look Bunnie I'm… I'm sorry… I know you were worried after I… Overdosed on plasma… But I just wasn't thinking straight when me and Amy had our argument. I wanted to say goodbye but…"
The rabbit placed her non-mechanical hand on the fox's shoulder, interrupting his explanation. "I understand." She said, "I'm just happy you're back."
Tails smiled, the thought of talking to Bunnie about what had happened had been sitting in the back of his mind ever since he'd gotten back, so hearing her response helped to calm his fears. "That means a lot to me. It feels good to be here again."
"I'm just happy you're alright, but I think it would be best for you to talk with Amy…"
"Yeah, I think that would be good to talk with her as well."
"Sounds like you've both got some things to work out then. It'll be alright, but before that, I figured you'd want this."
The rabbit handed Tails a plasma charge before continuing, "Heard Whisper did some work on your arguments so I figured this would help to calm your nerves a bit.
The fox took the charge from her, "Thanks."
"Just be careful this time, hopefully things go well for chatting with Amy."
Tails smiled as Bunnie left, no doubt to return to her own quarters. That left one Resistance member, and it was the one he'd been dreading since he'd gotten back. Before that, however, he figured getting some plasma into his blood couldn't hurt.
Setting the charge into the intake on his back, he felt the familiar calming sensation flood his system, helping him to push off his nervousness and anxiety. It wasn't long before the canister drained, the sensation slowly fading as it finished filling the reserves for his augments.
"Okay… Let's do this…"
It didn't take him long to find Amy, the hedgehog was sitting at a table in the main room, her mechanical hammer laid atop the table in front of her, and a handful of tools sat nearby. She was busy looking over the weapon, more specifically, the pair of plasma charges set into the top of it.
The pink hedgehog looked up at the fox for a moment before returning to her work, seemingly trying to ignore his presence.
Tails tried to push off the feelings of anger that sat on the edges of his thoughts. Arguing wasn't going to get anywhere for either of them. "Anything I can help with?"
"What do you want?" Amy responded, still keeping her focus on her work.
"I just want to talk."
"Look, I've already made my decision. You can take Cosmo with you, it seems like she'd prefer to be with you anyways. While it's good to see you're still alive, I stand by what I said. You don't belong here, and that's that."
An awkward silence fell over the two of them for a moment before Tails continued, "You've still never told me why you don't want me here."
Amy sighed, "I told you before, and I'll say it again, you're a liability. I just can't have you getting yourself into trouble and causing someone else to get hurt trying to help you, all that does is drag us down."
Tails thought over her answer, "You don't want me getting someone you see as a friend hurt, is that it?"
"I'm the only one here without arguments, did you ever stop to think about what that means?"
Tails had acknowledged she was the only mobian here without mechanical augmentations, a detail that had stuck out to him when they'd first met but that he hadn't given much thought to.
"It means," The hedgehog continued. "That everyone else here has already been through enough. It's my responsibility to protect this Resistance. If anyone gets hurt, I'm the one responsible for it. The last thing I want is for you to create more problems."
"I'm here to help."
"And you've been doing great at that so far…" The hedgehog responded, sarcasm dripping from her voice as she finally looked up at the fox. "The only thing you have done was get everyone worried sick when you couldn't control yourself. That's enough for me to make a decision."
"I want a second chance."
"Why do I have to give you one?"
Tails sighed, somewhat defeated by her question. There wasn't any point in arguing. "Fine… I'll leave…"
The fox went to exit the room and find Cosmo, but as he did, the hedgehog spoke again.
"Wait… Tails, I want you to know I don't hate you."
"You're certainly acting like it." Tails sarcastically responded, his own pent up anger getting the better of him for a moment.
"The Resistance isn't for you, but I can tell you'll do good things elsewhere. You can stay here, at least until tomorrow. It's the least I can do."
Tails sighed once again, "Thanks…"
The fox left the room, leaving Amy alone once again. She really hadn't wanted to do that. Tails was a good kid, but she wasn't about to have another of the Resistance members put themselves in danger to help him. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to forgive herself if someone got hurt…
She tried to put the conversation out of her mind. But she still didn't quite feel right, was it too harsh? Maybe Tails did deserve a second chance…
But that was something she'd have to sleep on to be sure…
-X-
Shadow stopped as the tracking beacon being relayed to his visor vanished. The hedgehog waited for a moment for its location to reappear, having to relay its location over long distances and through the thick trees of the forest had made the signal very inconsistent, it had already flickered off a few times before.
"There it goes again…" Rouge added, "You'd think Robotnik would have invested in a better tracker…"
Shadow simply waited for the device to reappear, it was taking significantly longer than usual this time around.
"What's taking so long?" The mechanical voice of Alpha's Omega Suit asked after waiting a few more moments.
Shadow wondered that himself, "Might have disabled the tracker."
"How? It's built into his augments, and even if he did have the right tools, it's on his back!" The suit continued, "Are you suggesting that he somehow had the tools needed and did it without looking?"
"I never said he was the one that did it."
"So what you're suggesting…" Rouge began, "Is that he had help…"
"Exactly."
"The Resistance?"
Shadow sighed, "I can't think of anyone else that would be capable of doing this type of work this close to the Complex. It has to be them."
"I assume we're not calling this off?"
Shadow contemplated his options for a moment before responding. As much as he didn't like to admit it, the Resistance made things problematic. They were surprisingly competent and organized for what was essentially a band of escaped specimens.
Still, they didn't necessarily need to capture all of them.
"No, whoever this fox is, he's clearly valuable to Robotnik. What's important to our objective is that we bring him in. If the Resistance is there, our only job is to incapacitate him, the less we have to deal with the Resistance the better."
"So in other words, don't get caught up fighting the Resistance."
"Exactly, so we need a plan. Omega and I can engage the Resistance head on, we'll create a distraction more than anything."
"Don't have to ask me twice…" Omega added. "I've been itching for the chance to use everything built into this thing."
"Rouge, your goal is to get the fox. With our distraction, we should be able to draw their attention enough that you can focus on him, and try not to hurt him too badly, we do need him alive."
"I'll try to keep that in mind." The bat responded, gently flexing her mechanical talon-like fingers.
"Now… Let's get going toward that tracker's last location."
Shadow conjured up the last known location of the tracker on his visor and the trio set off once again. Traveling deeper into the forest as they closed in on their quarry…
Alright everyone, that's all for this chapter! Let me know what you thought by leaving a review! Until next time!